WEATHER: July 2011 heatwave results in almost 9000 heat records broken or tied

Posted on August 6, 2011

Last month almost 9,000 daily heat records were broken or tied across the country. This includes 2,755 highest maximum temperatures and 6,171 highest minimum temperatures (nighttime records).

Here’s a high-resolution map of the record-breaking heatwave from July via NOAA’s Environmental Visualization Laboratory:

The record heat is also affecting water quality, causing pavements to explode, causing railroad rails to expand and buckle, and causing insects to invade homes in search of shelter and water.

CYCLONE Yasi a massive category 5 storm

Posted on February 1, 2011

Image via NASA, and the storm can be tracked at NOAA

Australia “hasn’t seen anything like Yasi.” The massive cyclone “is forecast[ed] to be the most powerful cyclone to hit the country ever,” and it is producing wind gusts of almost 190 miles per hour. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that “Cyclone Yasi is expected to make landfall around Cairns very early on Thursday morning as a severe category four storm.” As a result of the storms severity, “evacuations have begun in Queensland.”

The storm, which is being fed by warm ocean temperatures, could produce three feet of rain for areas that have already been badly affected by flooding. According to msnbc.com, “Forecasters expect the storm to generate winds greater than 175 mph and bring up to three feet of rain when it hits the northern coast of tropical Queensland state, making it even stronger than Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans in 2005.” More via the Sydney Morning Herald:

The Bureau of Meteorology says category five Yasi is likely to be more life-threatening than any in recent generations.

Cairns Mayor Val Schier says Yasi is the most severe cyclone in Australia’s living memory and Cairns could see scenes akin to Cyclone Tracy, which flattened Darwin in 1974.

Yasi will bring winds close to, and possibly in excess of, 300km/h when it makes landfall likely between Cairns and Innisfail about 10pm (AEST) on Wednesday.

“This is the most severe, most catastrophic storm that has ever hit our coast,” Ms Bligh told the ABC.

“Frankly, I don’t think Australia has ever seen a storm of this size, this intensity in an area as popular as this stretch of our coast.”

She said winds in excess of 280km/h would last for 24 hours and associated flooding would be felt for days, possibly as far inland as Mt Isa near the Northern Territory border.

Ms Bligh said there’d been grave developments overnight, with Yasi’s landfall time brought forward and now expected to come in on a high tide, exacerbating potentially deadly storm surges along the coast.

Video: Cyclone Yasi approaches Queensland

Video: Satellite & Radar Timelapse – Tropical Cyclone Yasi (Update 6)

Image via NOAA, and the storm can be tracked at NOAA

ATLANTIC HURRICANE SEASON: North Carolina and Virginia prepare for Hurricane Earl

Posted on September 2, 2010

Hurricane Earl is currently a category-four storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Both North Carolina and Virginia declare states of emergencies and evacuations have been ordered (track Hurricane Earl here). Via ABC News:

Earlier, both North Carolina and Virginia have declared states of emergency.

Coastal residents from the Carolinas as far north as Cape Cod are on high alert for Earl, which returned to Category 4 strength this afternoon, packing maximum sustained winds of 135 mph. Earl had been downgraded to Category 3. Officials said they expect “fluctuations” in the storm’s force in the coming days.

No matter the label, Earl is expected to pack a wallop. The National Hurricane Center warned that Earl could send water rising 3 to 5 feet along coastal areas.

With Earl tracking northwest, North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue declared a state of emergency today, and officials have ordered mandatory evacuations in parts of the state. The storm could hit the North Carolina coastline by late Thursday.

The storm, 400 miles wide, is still forecast to skirt the eastern coastline, but state officials worry it could change its mind.

Video credit: ABC News

NASA Satellite Captures Hurricane Earl on September 1, 2010 [HD Video]:

Video credit: NASA/GSFC/GOES/NOAA

Image credit: NOAA’s National Weather Service National Hurricane Center

The infrared satellite shows the “textbook structure of a major hurricane“:

Image credit: Weather.com

Here’s an astronaut’s eye view of Hurricane Earl from Space via NASA (taken August 31, 2010):

Image credit: NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth

NASA Satellite Captures Hurricane Earl on September 1, 2010:

Image credit: NASA/GSFC/GOES/NOAA

On the Net:

2010 Hurricane Season Tracking Map

EARTH DAY 2010

Posted on April 22, 2010

Today is the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day. The environmentally-themed day was “founded by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson [of Wisconsin] as an environmental teach-in held on April 22, 1970.” Of course, everyday should be Earth Day, but today represents a special remembrance of where our livelihoods, our goods and services, or our well-being derives. The images below represent a mere sample of Earth’s unique possessions, and these images are a reminder of why it’s important to conserve our one and only home and her unique natural possessions.

Environment-themed art with a message (click on any image to enlarge it):

Environment-themed art by Tomás Sánchez, Walton Ford, and Alexis Rockman—some of my favorite artists.

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Photo source for attribution here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. The authors or licensors of these images do not endorse my work or me and their images are protected under an attribution license.